Follow the Stars Quilt of Valor

Last March I learned about the Quilt of Valor Foundation while listening to the now defunct Quilt Your Heart Out podcast hosted by Mary and Marianne Fons. From what I understand, Marianne has been involved with the foundation for quite some time. The foundation's mission is to award quilts to service members and veterans touched by war. I thought getting involved would be a good opportunity to show my appreciation for the sacrifice that our service members and their families make for our country. Plus, I noticed that most of the quilts being awarded were very traditional in style and there might be younger veterans who would be interested in receiving a more modern style quilt.

Joining the organization is pretty easy and soon after I was contacted by my state coordinator with my first assignment. After some searching, I decided on the Follow the Stars kit by Maureen Cracknell from Hawthorne Threads. The color palette is patriotic without being overly traditional and the pattern reminded me of the floor in a fancy building (in a good way, of course). I didn't realize that I would have to make roughly 5,000 half square triangles to construct the quilt top, so it was a little slow going for me. It is pretty magical how arranging all of those squares just so results in a big and bold geometric design.

 

Once I finished piecing the top and the back, I sent both to a volunteer long arm quilter who was super quick to return a beautifully quilted sandwich back. Then all I had to do was attach the binding and the label.

 

What better way to show our appreciation and wrap our service members and veterans in a warm virtual hug than through quilts?